Jonathan Levitt

Web wide task completion. Where do you stack up?

Following up on Michael Whitehouse’s post last week’s about how the American financial crisis is negatively affecting task completion on the websites of financial service providers, we’re unveiling Q3 task completion scores for all the other major verticals represented in the 4Q family of users.

- Entertainment websites lead the way, with a task completion score that leads the pack by 8 points.
- Task completion is three points above the average on automotive sites. Good news for car manufacturers at a time when gas prices are still at historical highs and North American vehicle sales are slumping.
- Hospitality sites are feeling the pinch generating by the credit crunch, fear about job security, and high commodity prices. For a lot of people, anxiety about the future is mitigating the desire to travel and those who do are increasingly shopping for steep discounts.
- Cost sensitivity and lack of economic confidence are also playing a role in the lower-than-average task completion scores for Retail and Consumer Electronics. These will be the bellwethers to watch in the lead-up to the holiday season. Last week, the NRF forecasted that 2008 holiday season sales would rise 2.2%, far below the 10-year average lift of 4.4%. The challenges facing multi-channel and online retailers will only be exacerbated by low task completion.
- The Web Analytics industry clocked in with the fourth lowest score. C’mon guys and gals, we play in traffic for a living and are swimming in metrics...we’re supposed to know what makes our visitors tick. We can do better than this!

So, how does your site stack up against your industry? Let us know by commenting on the blog or posting your stories in the 4Q Community Forum. If you aren't measuring task completion, then sign up now for 4Q at www.4qsurvey.com. This metric is a crucial measurement and beginning to play an increasingly important role in website optimization. It cost you nothing to capture. Bigger question..what does it cost you not to?

Visitor Intent – What’s your guess?

This e-mail was waiting in my inbox bright and early when I came back from vacation last week:

Dear Jonathan,

I love 4Q! I think it’s such an easy way to start the conversation about measuring site effectiveness, and it’s a great way to challenge some dearly-held assumptions at the HIPPO level.

I only have one problem. When I look at my “purposes of visit,” I’m seeing that 70% are selecting other. This has got to be a mistake! I had my user experience team spend two weeks to come up with the list of purposes of visit. There’s no way our brightest minds can’t identify what 7/10ths of our visitors are onsite to do!

Help!

Best,

In Love with 4Q

(Ok, that’s not her real name, but we had to redact it to protect the innocent!)

I was stunned at first. Was 4Q broken? Was there something wrong with the database? First, we checked the technology. Scripts in place across the site? Check. Answer tags rendering properly on the survey screen? Check.

Then, we checked the database. Maybe records were getting deleted by mistake, and the “others” were being over-represented in the reporting tools. So, we watched the responses as they came in, but everything looked sound. Not only were visitors opting to select “other” at an amazing rate, they were actually being quite verbose when asked to write in their exact purposes…and the reality, is that these bright minds on the user experience team who had determined the purpose of visit tags for this particular survey, had no clue why people were coming to the site. They apparently couldn’t even guess.

Understanding visitor intent is critical to establishing site goals. Let me put this another way: if I don’t know why people are on my website, then how can I determine if my site’s doing a good job? I can follow the metrics I think are important, but without the user-sourced data, I’m simply projecting my own biases. And if web analytics has taught us one thing, it’s that the days of assumption and conjecture have passed us by.

To that end, we’ll shortly be taking our own medicine and running a 4Q survey on the 4Q site. And we’ll be transparent enough to tell you if 70% of our visitors reject our pre-define buckets and opt to speak for themselves!

4Q now captures voice of customer in 16 languages

We have some exciting news!

4Q is just about ready to go global! We've completed our first round of survey interface translations into 15 new languages, which are:

Canadian French
European French
Latin American Spanish
European Spanish
European Portuguese
German
Dutch
Danish
Swedish
Norwegian
Italian
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Japanese
Korean

For now, as you may have noticed, the actual 4Q site is available in English, French and Spanish. We will be adding new languages to the site itself, but the survey interface is already set to go in the languages listed above. At any one time, you'll be able to run your 4Q survey in 6 of any of the above languages.

Not only have we rolled out the survey translations, but we have a couple of highly-requested product updates to announce as well.

First, we've rolled out the ability to create an unlimited number of surveys and manage them all within your one account. Second, you can now adjust your purpose of visit selections (found in question 2) for surveys you've already submitted and may already be live with.

We’re announcing these developments on our forum and blog first so we can get as much feedback as possible from our existing and engaged 4Q users. If you notice any oddities or errors in our translations, PLEASE let us know at 4Q@iperceptions.com.
Once you’ve taken a close look at these translations and provided us with feedback, we’ll roll them out publicly.

If you have any questions at all about the new languages or features, don't hesitate to reach out at 4Q@iperceptions.com.

Now, get your multi-language surveys up and let's work together to take 4Q global!

How transparent can you be?

The Internet, and more recently the explosion of the Web 2.0 phenomenon, has inverted the social physics of information. Power comes not from your Rolodex anymore, but from how many bloggers link to you...and the paradigm shift is expanding....The new breed of naked companies also discovers that once people are interested in you, they're interested in helping you out - by offering ideas, critiques, and extra brain cycles. Customers have become working partners.

In a recent sales meeting, one of our business development reps raised the concern that in our online survey at iperceptions.com, we ask visitors how familiar they are with our competitors, and we ask them to rank some of the obvious similarities and differences in both the companies as well as the comparing online experiences.

To a marketing guy like me, this is valuable for two reasons; one, the competitive information is priceless. I am able to gauge market awareness of competing solutions as well as improve the areas of weaknesses, and emphasize the areas of strengths when it comes to recognition of brand values and value propositions. The second, is that it helps iPerceptions spread the message that we are an ‘open’ company.

Winning business is important, and in the end, points on the board are everything, but perhaps almost as important is to build awareness. I just want companies to be aware of what tools are available to them, and I want them to be listening to the voice of customer. I am less concerned about with whom they get involved from a vendor perspective. I believe prospects will do their own due diligence and choose the vendor that fits their objectives, culture, needs, etc…in the end, the better solution will rise to the top of a quickly maturing market.

I tried to explain to the team that we want the business that wants us. We want to encourage prospects to look at the competition. We want to be forthcoming, honest, and sincere, and we want to win the business on the merits of our solution, service and value.

To a sales guy, this is an extremely threatening concept. How can you point potential clients to the competition? Isn’t that just stupid?

We were recently in a competitive situation with a fairly large prospect (now client). After an intensive selection process, we were awarded the business, and our VP Sales placed the usual call to the decision maker to find out why (we always want to know why we were or were not given business when it comes to a competitive bid).

The gist of his response was this: “Both solutions met our needs. They were close in price and the decision was not an easy one to make…at first. But your competitors spent 20% of the time pitching the value of their own solution, and 80% of the time putting yours down. It was a turn off, and spoke to their integrity…”

Clearly, the open and honest approach works. Be nice, have integrity and be forthcoming, and may the most transparent company win.

What is the purpose of your visit today?

We all know how crucial it is to understand the primary reasons why people are coming to your website. It has been argued that a firm understanding of 'Purpose of Visit' and 'Task Completion' are the fundamental building blocks to a succesful web analytics strategy. It is for this very reason that we have put 4Q into the market, as a way to deliver the voice of the customer to website owners and operators of all shapes and sizes.
We also know that all websites, and more importantly all website visitors have different reasons for existing online.

We'd like to expand our Purpose of Visit options on the 4Q survey (survey question 2: "Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of your visit?"). At the moment, the options are:

Buy
Check for product updates
Check friend updates
Check messages
Check my account
Check news
Check order status
Check profile
Check promotions
Compare prices
Compare products
Create an account
Download materials
Download software
Find contact information
Find store locations
Learn about products
Listen to music
Look at pictures
Obtain company information
Post blog comment
Read
Research
Search for friends
Seek technical support
Subscribe to RSS
Update account information
Update profile
View profile(s)
View/share widget(s)
Watch videos

We've already received some great suggestions on our forum and in e-mails we've received from the user base. We'd like to pull these together into a master thread on our forum and include the new choices as part of the next wave of survey upgrades. The thread can be found here (if you're not already a forum member, you'll need to join first in order to be able to post):

Please jump in and reply with your suggestions. We'd just ask that you keep in mind that we're always trying to strike a delicate balance between choices that are relevant to your website and choices that are common enough that they can be rolled up and aggregated for industry-level reporting.

iPerceptions to sponsor Forrester's Marketing Forum 2008

If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area next week, join iPerceptions from April 8-9 for Forrester's Marketing Forum 2008, where industry executives and Forrester analysts will provide insights on how marketers can get the most out of emerging marketing practices. Topics covered include: Segmentation strategies, Brand experiences, Personas, Social technologies, Word-of-mouth marketing and more.

More than 500 marketing professionals in Customer Experience, Direct Marketing, Market Research, Product Management, Interactive Marketing, and Marketing Leadership roles will be in attendance.

Looking forward to seeing you there. iPerceptions will be at booth #1, come by and see us to learn more about our company, our webValidator Continuous Listening Solution for voice of customer analytics, and our brand new initiative developed in collaboration with Avinash Kaushik, called 4Q (a free and simple survey solution).

Visit the Marketing Forum 2008 Web site for agenda details, the Event brochure, and venue information.

eMetrics Toronto- iPerceptions to attend in big numbers

A bunch of us are piling into the iPerceptions jet and heading to Toronto next Monday! We'll be attending in large numbers and with as much team spirit as we can muster. The eMetrics Summits are truly our thing – they are the perfect chance to educate an engaged audience on the importance voice of customer analytics.

With keynotes such as Jim Sterne (founder of the Web Analytics Association), Andrew Sloss of eBay Canada, and Seth Romanow of Microsoft, Toronto’s event promises to be a must-attend for Canadian web practitioners, marketing managers, and any other business executives interested in improving their customers’ experiences.

We’ll be at booth #16 at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel – if you still haven’t registered for the event but would like to attend, contact us and we’ll set you up with a 10% discount.

Call for Translations:

We've had an overwhelming outreach of 4Q users who are volunteering to lend a hand on the translations needed to deploy 4Q in 20 + Languages.

We've decided to turn this initiative over to the 4Q community. If you are interested in helping us with this massive undertaking, please send an email to 4q at iperceptions dot com with the list of languages in which you would feel comfortable translating (or lending a hand). Your participation in this endeavour will be greatly appreciated, not just by iPerceptions, but by all customer-centric site owners across the world.

Please be sure to include in the subject line of your email: "I want to translate 4Q"
Thanks in advance for helping make 4Q a Global success.

The additional languages we are looking to provide are:

Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Spanish – European
Spanish – Latin American
Japanese
French – Quebec
French - European
German
Portuguese
Korean
Italian
Finnish
Turkish
Swedish
Dutch
Russian
Hindi
Danish
Norwegian

If there are languages that you would like to translate that are not listed above - please contact us.

4Q is an Avinash Kaushik and iPerceptions Collaboration

4Q: A free and simple survey solution. An Avinash Kaushik and iPerceptions Collaboration

Today marks a watershed moment in the history of iPerceptions. I’m extremely excited to announce to you that we’ve partnered with web analytics expert Avinash Kaushik to roll-out the 4Q online survey application. 4Q is a powerful and completely free survey solution that promises to redefine and reinvigorate web analytics.

4Q marries Avinash’s 3 greatest survey questions with iPerceptions’ proven, best-of-breed approach to capturing the voices of real online customers. In deploying 4Q, we are putting forward an open and transparent standard for measuring the human voices behind the searches, clicks, and conversions. We are capturing intent, task completion, and customer satisfaction, and we are providing full visibility into the collected data with an intuitive and responsive set of online reporting tools.

To reinforce just how easily and quickly site owners can start using 4Q to tune into customer insights, we will be streaming an instructional video on YouTube, where Avinash will setup 4Q and demonstrate just how easy it is to use. Additionally, you can see the video below (Avinash has a 25 minute extended version on Occam's Razor)

The world is ready for 4Q. Web 2.0 technologies have irrevocably changed the internet; users have grabbed the spotlight and they will never relinquish it. Along with Avinash, we’ve taken this leap of faith because we believe in the fundamental power of surveys and in the intrinsic right of all site owners to have an open dialog with their customers.

We also believe that, in developing a free solution, we are riding the wave of a paradigm shift in the way online services are being delivered. As Chris Anderson of Wired Magazine has written, the “generation raised on the free Web is coming of age.” Through the services delivered by Google, Wikipedia, and others, we have all become acclimated to this new delivery model. Years ago, it was famously stated that information wants to be free. We are proud to say that this dream is finally being realized for this iteration of voice of customer analytics.

Over to you now, get to know satisfaction.

The customer is always right

I took my three year old son Lucas to McDonalds this weekend. I’m not a fan of feeding my kids fast food, but in those desperate times (and other parents know what I’m talking about here), a happy meal can go a long way.
After ordering our lunch, the cashier returned my change short ten dollars. I politely told her that I had given her a twenty dollar bill, and that she gave me back the incorrect change.
“No sir, I did not…you gave me a ten”. I was pretty sure she was wrong – I had just come from the ATM which only disburses twenty dollar bills, and corrected her again. “No, I only had twenty dollar bills in my wallet…you must have made a mistake”.
“No Sir, the mistake is yours, please step aside”. (I don’t take well to being told to step aside – it’s like telling me to relax when I’m not). So...I asked to speak to the manager.
The manager came forward – I began to explain the story. Half way through, my son piped in.
“Dude (he calls everyone dude – I call him dude)…my daddy is the customer, and the customer is always right”.
We all laughed.
Sitting at our table over a happy meal and a salad, I asked my son where he learned that.
“The Backyardigans Daddy”.
I’m not sure what amazed me more – his ability to contextualize this learning the way he had, or the fact that at the age of three years old, my child was learning about customer satisfaction. I sought out the clip he referenced. I think in an anecdotal way, it speaks to the fact that companies are in big trouble…our youth are empowered! Clearly, a moment of pride.
Naturally, I got my ten dollars back.

How would you define Web 2.0?

My older sister recently created a Facebook account. It was a big move for her, as her experience online is limited to basic browsing and checking email. Suffice it to say that she is not very technical or web savvy.

I noticed yesterday that she changed her status on Facebook to read: Helena Levitt is hoping people will come see the play Kindly Keep It Covered with Lakeshore Players opening February 6th!! (She’s an actor).

I was quite proud of her and sent her the following message: I am so proud of you! You might not know it, but you just leveraged Web 2.0 and social networking. Very cutting edge of you.

Her response: Huh?

I then tried to explain to her what Web 2.0 was. Not easy. Especially difficult, because before you can explain Web 2.0, you first need to make sure the person you are explaining it to understands Web 1.0.

My explanation went something like this (remember I’m trying to strip it down to the core for the sake of laymen digestion):

Web 2.0 is the next generation of the internet. It’s a movement away from the web being a one way dialog of brand to consumer (through the use of a ‘website’). It is the evolution towards a medium whereby consumers can ‘share’ and ‘publish’ content, and build brands within the context of dialog with one another through a variety of online applications (such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies).

Her response: Huh?

I tried again…and again….I tried several times. I then realized I couldn’t do it. I could not put forward an easy to understand, comprehensive explanation of what was Web 2.0.

So…the question is…how would you define Web 2.0 to a laymen?

Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T are back again

According to a recent article in Adweek, American Idol sponsors (Coke, Ford and AT&T) are back again to spend big bucks on what has become America’s most watched television show….and its going to cost them big time (is this a double entendre?).

These power brands are going to be shelling out over 35 Million a piece for a combination of in show product placement, ad spots to air during the episodes, and co-branded off air marketing programs. The price tag is up this year from last year ($30 Million for the 2007 season), and the brands anticipate an even bigger return on investment due to the hypothesis that the writers strike is going to fuel consumption of the non original scripted programs.

But…according to TV Week, Idol’s seventh season saw a major dip in ratings (in fact the lowest ratings in four years). I will admit that the show is still a titan, but what does it say for American Idol that ratings are down from last year, and this year, they aren’t competing with a very compelling line up of programming options?

Its too early in the season to make a prediction.
Stay tuned….or not.

Binaries and borders

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in on a deep dive analysis presentation that one of our senior analysts was giving to a high-value client. I’m not really a hardcore numbers guy, so when the analyst starts parsing satisfaction data for very specific customer segments, I’m sometimes prone to taking a peak at the Blackberry and letting my attention move away from the presentation (slightly and momentarily).

But then I heard the word “Iraq” and my head snapped up. The analyst was reviewing some open-ended comments that pertained to why certain visitors didn’t complete a purchase during their online session. The verbatim comment in question was from a parent whose son was shipping off to the Middle East, and it ran something like: “I’m looking for an affordable laptop for my son, who’s leaving for Iraq next month, but I was unable to find anything within my budget range.”

Powerful words, huh? Think about how we usually analyze conversion data. Yes and no. Simple binaries. We have that 2% that converts online and that 98% that doesn’t. And what does that 98% constitute? Unrealized opportunity? Virgin territory ripe for harvesting?

Actually, it constitutes real people, operating within the strictures of real-world circumstances. Sometimes, cart abandonment means that the user can afford college tuition for their kids or a new computer, but not both.

Therein lies the burden of survey research. It’s not always clean and pristine numbers; sometimes…it gets messy. You actually get your hands dirty, because you’re drawing on the raw, and sometimes emotional, verbatim output of why visitors didn’t buy.

Like I said, I’m more right brain than I am left, but I do know that clickstream analysts have got it easier. Pull the data for cart abandonment, slice by frequency of visit, referrer, product line—then, power down your machine and head home. The survey research analyst is the one who has to wade through the tricky morass of visitor frustration, of dashed hopes, and of foregone needs, and then put distance between themselves and the stream of commentary in order to provide objective insight.

But I guess it’s an added motivator. When it comes to making recommendations to clients, you’re advocating on behalf of people, rather than numbers.

Let there be light

Last Friday, iPerceptions held its first Advisory Council meeting in Montreal with our management team, and newly formed advisory council comprised of such notables as Avinash Kaushik, Bryan Eisenberg, Mitch Joel, Alex Lowy, Nick Coutts and Dr. Antonio Ciampi. Aside from some very poignant discussions around our strategic direction, and the web analytics market in general, we discussed everything from social media to convergence to corporate responsibility to building value based brands, and everything in between. It was a truly enlightening day.

It’s no accident that we brought these great minds together. In forming our Advisory Council, we looked for true thought leaders in their respective fields whose individual experiences would add value and insight. Each contributed to the discussion by adding their personal and professional perspective on the medium, the market and the role that iPerceptions plays in democratizing the voice of the online customer.

It made me think of an article I read by Jack Welsh in The Wall Street Journal just prior to the election in 2004.

Jack Welsh said: “Every time we had a crisis at GE, I would quickly assemble a group of the smartest, gutsiest people I could find at any level from within the company and sometimes without, and lean on them heavily for their knowledge and advice. I would make sure everyone in the room came at the problem from a different angle, and then I would have us all wallow in the information as we worked to solve the crisis. These sessions were almost always contentious, and the opinions that came at me strong and varied. And yet, my best decisions arose from what I learned in these debates. Disagreement surfaced meaningful questions and forced us to challenge assumptions. Everyone came out of the experience more informed and better prepared to take on the next crisis.”

Business is great. Successful companies are the engine of a healthy society and nothing short of the foundation of a free and democratic world. The minds that we surround ourselves with in business is a key element of success. Based on the brain power present at our Advisory Council meeting, I would say success is ours to lose.
After all…we are in the business of listening. Aren’t we all? Shouldn’t we all be?

…Ad speaking of listening…be sure to check out Episode #71 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast where Mitch Joel speaks with Bryan Eisenberg and Avinash Kaushik.

Optimost - Optimization Summit

iPerceptions is excited to announce that we will be an exhibiting sponsor at The Optimization Summit, presented by Optimost, coming up on October 3rd in San Francisco. We're very enthusiastic about this opportunity to partner with Optimost, as the Summit promises to be tremendously insightful and features a lineup of dynamic speakers, including Anne Holland, President and Publisher of Marketing Sherpa, who will be delivering the keynote address. Leveraging multivariable testing allows marketers to quickly understand which website content strategies are most conducive to driving ROI. Additionally, a more holistic picture emerges when these insights are combined with the real voice of the customer. Capturing and listening to real online visitors adds continuous context and feedback to any site changes being made, and it helps to significantly speed up the optimization schedule.

Through a series of presentations, panels, and discussions, the Summit will enable participants to develop a clear understanding of multivariable optimization processes, with the goal of converting more web visitors into customers and maximizing the ROI of their online marketing initiatives. Participants will also hear various optimization success stories and will be presented with a blueprint for making optimization a part of their DNA.

Most importantly, the Summit will provide participants with a chance to meet and network with other marketers, website managers, and product managers, as well as some of the leading minds in the field.

It all points to a great session, and we're thrilled to be a part of it. For more information, please visit http://www.optimizationsummit.com.

Thoughts on shop.org

This industry, still skyrocketing with a growth rate of over 20%, has grown up around us…has grown with us. The Shop.org Annual Summit brings us together to relate learnings, to discuss trends, and, most of all, to share the intimate knowledge that has brought us so far in such a short time and will lead us into a very bright future.

This year's Shop.org Annual Summit, taking place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV, is the premier gathering of online and multichannel retailers and Shop.org's most important event. Featuring keynotes from the most exciting speakers in the industry, sessions for intermediate and advanced retailers, and unparalleled networking, this must-attend event will put you in touch with the people in the industry that you need to know.

If you weren’t here this year, and are looking for the biggest event in the multi-chanel retail space, this is the show not to miss.

iPerceptions had (has – the show is still in full swing) a booth at the event, and when I wasn’t being a ‘vendor’ (hate the term – but it is what it is), I had the pleasure of taking in some impressive speakers at this years show. To name a few; Kelly Mooney - Resource Interactive (iCitizen…iConcur), Jeremy Dalnes, Vice President of E-Business at Panasonic North America - Lauren Freedman, President, e-Tailing Group - Susan Gelinger, Divisional Internet Manager, JCPenney - Dylan Lewis, Senior Manager, Web Analytics, Intuit TurboTax (Intuit Inc.) Sean McDonald, Director, Global Online Community, Dell Inc. - Eric Peterson, CEO and Principal Consultant, Web Analytics Demystified and Elaine Wu, Manager, Internet Marketing Victoria's Secret. All have impressive insights into this space and a whole lot of knowledge to share.

Joseph Pratt, Analyst for IC Media Direct has some interesting thoughts on the space (to which I am in complete agreeement). Retailers know better than anyone how much money consumers are spending over the Internet. They are realizing profits in their respective fields. They also recognize a maturation process, and that the net number of new e-commerce customers will tail off to non-growth levels. Some estimates predict this flat lining by 2010.

However, there is still important growth with maturity – and that growth is in the average amount of money spent per online customer. Instead of trying to grab new customers, retailers are bending over backwards to retain existing customers. This is the value play. Existing customers are being cultivated. The retailer, be it Nordstrom’s or Wal-Mart, wants the customer feeling at home and free of anxiety within their website.

Instead of trying to be all things to all people online, online retailing efforts of late are geared towards complementing their “brick and mortar” locations. By complement, I mean soaking up as much nitty-gritty merchandising as possible – and letting store locations double as entertainment or advertising hubs. In order to do this, though, the website must be a comfortable zone for shoppers. There is an overarching value being placed on the online customer today because online loyalty equals retail gold. Profit margins of today remain important as ever, but a future where today’s loyalty means increased spending tomorrow, is truly precious.

Online retailing has evolved. The Internet has gone from a cheap place of doing business to a venue where a premium is placed on customers.

Real customer satisfaction cannot be measured by "un-real" customers

I've been reading a lot lately about the results of a satisfaction study conducted of the top search engines - and how Google took second fiddle to Yahoo this year.

This is a bold statement. But who's making it? Knowing enough about our industry, I'm confident enough to say that it isn't real visitors to the sites of these two online megaliths (by real visitors, I am referring to people who are on the site, at their own free will, and being asked to provide feedback within the context of a real experience). Perhaps the figures were derived from panel research or offline interviews. While there is nothing wrong with this - they are effective forms of research and certainly have their place - one thing is for certain, they do not provide a true measurement of the actual voice of customer.

Why not? Simple.

Participants in these research vehicles are not real customers within a real experience. Theirs does not reflect a spontaneous and unscripted experience, and therefore cannot be substituted for real people trying to accomplish a real purpose of visit. As Duff Anderson (Vice President Research and Development at iPerceptions) pointed out in a previous post, our research shows that the way task-based or scripted visitors rate satisfaction is not the same as the way actual customers in real situations rate it. What is important to them and how satisfied they are is very different.

Here's an interesting analogy. NEC has decided to start wiring its labs with high-tech surveillance equipment to snatch up water-cooler talk and break-room chit chat, in the hopes that the real nuggets of brilliance will emerge when its employees are speaking in an unguarded fashion. The reasoning is clear: when you compel someone to furnish an answer in an uncomfortable setting, the truth will often be distorted. However, when you allow someone to speak in the context of a spontaneous experience, real insight emerges.

It is easy to understand, therefore, why these much-publicized Google/Yahoo findings struggle to align with the latest comScore numbers. If Google has really been "resting on its laurels" over the past year, then why does comScore's data show that Google' share of searches has actually grown from 46% in July 2006 to 55% in July 2007? More and more searchers are flocking to Google, with most of the growth coming at the expense of Yahoo. The disparity in stock performance between Google and Yahoo has also been widely-documented.

It's certainly an eye-opener.

The Internet has allowed us to dialog with consumers in the context of their real experiences. For the first time, people can speak for themselves. I believe that the Google/Yahoo results would look quite different if these were real people in the context of a real experience.

Marketing inside out

True marketing begins inside and builds its way outwards. I have often argued that brands don’t exist on store shelves or in product packaging - they are not dictated by advertising campaigns nor by the creative components of a marketing message. Brands exist in the minds of consumers and are reflective of their experience with your company or product. Branding is a form of psychological warfare – and the battle plan is comprised of a series of customer experiences and interactions with your organization.

One of the things that I believe makes my job as Vice President, Marketing here at iPerceptions easier, is that we have a group of individuals representing this company that whole-heartedly believe in our mission to democratize the voice of the customer, and to re-define market research. They are a young and eclectic group of people who are committed to making the iPSI (iPerceptions Satisfaction Index) the standard for measuring customer experience and satisfaction online.

I have never worked in a company that has more loyal and committed staff than we have here at iPerceptions. No matter which individual, no matter the department, no matter the level of access they have with the client, it is understood and respected across the organization that we are on a critical, timely and sensitive mission. Being committed to a company is one thing – the right human resource department coupled with the right compensation plan and work environment can attract and retain the right talent, but having staff truly embrace the core message that your company stands for...thats a whole other ball game...and it doesnt happen on its own. Yes...firstly, its about synchronizing the personality of the brand with the corporate culture and the company values. By aligning the criteria for recruiting and rewarding employees with the criteria of the brand value, we ensure allignment among marketing and human resources. Very important. But...when hiring, iPerceptions mainly looks for the right skills and aptitudes that will represent our brand promise effectively...its not just about what is written on someone's resume.

Consider that your staff meet, greet, and help your customers in many different ways. They are the face of your brand. They are your best salespeople and they are your marketing messengers. Having a team of dedicated individuals that help spread the gospel on a daily basis...makes for the start of a winning marketing strategy.

The x-men x-factor

If you've been following the newswire, you've probably seen that we've put out a press release formally announcing the founding members of our advisory council. We're extremely proud of the team we've assembled to help guide and nurture us. Each of our members is a recognized thought leader in his field. Their unique skill sets will help make it possible for us to mature our technology, refine our research methodologies, and grow the iPSI.

I'd like to talk briefly about the dynamic power players we've brought together. Bryan Eisenberg is a recognized worldwide as an expert in online marketing and marketing analytics. Avinash Kaushik is a published author and analytics evangelist, whose blog, Occam's Razor, is read by hundreds of decision makers every month. Mitch Joel is a renowned blogger,speaker, and communications visionary, who is highly active with the Canadian Marketing Association.

Continuing with this star-studded lineup, Alex Lowy is a sought-after strategist, who co-founded Digital 4Sight, a global technology think tank. Dr. Antonio Ciampi brings academic clout to our council; his post-graduate education includes both a Ph.D (Queen's University) and a Doctorate in Physics (University of Rome). Last, but certainly not least, is Nicholas Coutts, a leading routes to market specialist, who has helped many A-list clients maximize market share, profit, and brand objectives.

In a way, I (we) feel like a hockey general manager, who just finished signing six of the most talented and sought-after free agents available. We're really excited about our team, and we're sure that their insights will furnish us with huge competitive advantages moving forward.

Corporate America ... Are you listening?

You may not be listening to the voice of your customers...but the rest of the world is. I just saw this video on our friend Mitch Joel's blog - and just had to re-purpose it (thanks Mitch). In my opinion, Mitch said it all in this one simple sentence (and thus this will be short and sweet):

"I think the power in this video goes well beyond a lesson in customer service, but rather scratches at the very core of what Social Media is and how it will change how companies deal with their consumers."

Congratulations, you’re an idiot.

I am sitting on an airplane, returning from a four day trip to Internet Retailer in San Jose. The show was fantastic. There were companies ranging in size from retail start-ups to Fortune 500, all there to share their knowledge of the space and interact on a common interest. I really enjoy these shows. They are a great opportunity to see what’s going on in segments of the market that I don’t typically spend much time in. Because of the general nature of Internet Retailer, attendees are exposed to a variety of vendors and solutions, ranging from e-com providers, to analytics, to marketing solutions and more. It is a hodge-podge of internet applications and solutions…and I thoroughly enjoyed being there…and it didn’t hurt to be in Silicon Valley either. But that’s not really the point of this blog.

I, as I would assume most people on this plane are; am feeling quite tired. With a 7:00 AM departure, and airport congestion these days, it means for a four something in the morning wake up call to be at the airport two hours in advance. Throw into the mix a three hour time difference, an over crowded airplane, and people’s general stressful disposition when it comes to air travel…its no wonder federal authorities aren’t waiting at the gate more often on flight arrivals.

When the guy next to me sat down, I could instantly feel his stress. Everything seemed to be a problem. It started with his inability to find an overhead storage bin that would accommodate his oversized carry on, then it was about the seatbelt being tangled, and finally, he thought he was a getting a window seat (my seat), but it turned out to that he was sitting on the aisle – and was extremely unhappy about it…and was extremely vocal about it too. I personally, don’t do vocal at 7:00 AM.

Sitting two rows ahead of us was a woman with two children. One was just a baby, maybe a few months old at best; the other was a toddler (I would guess 3 years old). Both were adorable. After taking off, the 3 year old boy started to cry, and the crying intensified as we climbed. You could tell by the sound of the cry (I could tell by the sound of the cry – being a father myself of two young kids I know the different cries) that he was in pain. This was not a nagging cry. I could also tell that the guy next to me was not a parent. It was obvious that he was not appreciative of the boys loud crying. He started to get shifty in his seat. The more the crying continued, the shiftier he got…sighing loudly and huffing and puffing. Eventually, he started to complain out loud. Comments like “I need this at this hour of the morning?” and “Of all the places I have to sit”…. The woman two rows ahead could clearly hear him complaining and was trying desperately to soothe her child. She kept looking around and apologizing to the surrounding passengers. She was clearly uncomfortable with it as well. The more this went on, the worse I felt for her and the more I wanted to silence the angry man next to me trying to insight the mob. Eventually, he said “Would someone please shut that kid up”. I suppose it was at that point that the protective motherly instinct kicked in, and the mother left her son screaming in his seat and got up and walked over to the angry man and said “Listen, you idiot, my son is crying because he’s in pain. He is suffering from an ear infection and is just a little boy. I normally wouldn’t choose to fly on my own (she was holding back tears) with a baby and a three year old little boy with an ear infection, but my mother has recently died and I am on my way to her funeral so could you kindly shut up and deal with it because I am doing the best I can here!”

I wanted to applaud. I think the whole plane did.
These examples seem to follow me around – or maybe I am just more aware of the pitfalls of simply watching someone’s behavior and making assumptions, as a result of being in the attitudinal analytics space…but once again I saw anecdotally how just watching is not enough to understand the context of someone’s behavior.

All the angry man could do was sit there with this dumbfounded look on his face. He turned to me and said “I feel like an idiot”.

I responded with a simple “Congratulations”. Eventually the little boy cried himself to sleep.

Dog Walking - Understanding why – e-Metrics 2007

Alex was a great guy (is still a great guy - although we aren’t really in touch anymore), but was always a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Growing up, he lived with his family next to a beautiful park. The family had two dogs; a Doberman, and an Airedale Terrier. Being the only boy in a family of five children, it was his responsibility to walk the dogs every morning, and every day after school. I always found his patterns when walking the dogs very interesting. He would always take one dog at a time. Typically, he would start with the Doberman. He would walk the Doberman down the street, cross over, and walk back up the other side. He would then put the Doberman back in the house. Pick up the Airedale, and take the Airedale into the park. On occasion, he would reverse the order, and take the Airedale first into the park, and then come back and walk the Doberman down the street. The bottom line was that he never took the Doberman into the park, and never walked the Airedale down the street.

I’ve just come back from attending the e-Metrics summit in San Francisco. iPerceptions had a booth at the show, and I had the pleasure of speaking at one of the success tracks. Overall, it was a very successful trip.

The common theme, which kept coming up, whether it was over lunch with Bryan Eisenberg on Sunday, or during the keynote delivered by Jim Sterne, was that web analytics is evolving fast. The most important thing to understand of online behavior….is ‘why’. Without understanding ‘why’ a visitor or customer does or does not accomplish the purpose of their visit, we are only able to make assumptions.

That is why we believe (at iPerceptions) that the Holy Grail of web analytics is customer feedback. By leveraging voice of the customer research and open ended feedback, we are able to understand the context of people’s actions. Without it, we are simply ‘watching’ and cannot deduce with any level of certainty…’why’. If we truly want to get at the answers, we have to be willing to ask the questions.

At my ten year high school reunion – I finally asked Alex the question that had been on my mind forever. As much as I had drummed up possible reasons for the dog walking pattern , and as much as I knew Alex wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, I never would have known the real reason ‘why’ he behaved the way he did without coming straight out and asking him.

Turns out, the sign in the park that said “No Dogs Allowed”…was a picture of a Doberman Pincher.

Judging the 11th annual WebAward competition

New York, NY - May 14, 2007 - The Web Marketing Association is pleased to announce that Jonathan Levitt, Vice President, Marketing has been selected as a judge of the 11th annual international WebAward competition for Web site development.

Advertising is changing; there is no doubt about it

I recently got together with an old friend and colleague, and like we usually do when we sit down over a glass of wine or three – we began to talk about the passions we have in common; technology, advertising, consumption, engagement and the future of brand measurement.

He recently bought a personal video recorder, and was telling me (no I have not yet made the transition) how nice it is to finally be able to by-pass advertising.

A recent study by ad buyer Media Planning Group found that 90% of people with PVRs skip commercials in recorded programming — and just 16% watch the ads when viewing live TV, rather than doing something else or channel hopping.

Advertising is changing; there is no doubt about it. In large part I believe due to the advent of certain technologies giving us consumption alternatives, on-demand viewing, content slinging, and the basic nature of content sharing and the consumer generated content movement.

As a result of major changes in consumer viewing habits, advertisers and marketers are now faced with an onslaught of both new challenges and new opportunities. There are now a number of new ways to reach potential customers. We are already seeing a tremendous increase in television based product placement, in game advertising; even the emergence of alternate virtual worlds where avatar represented consumers are being flocked with advertising and product placement.

The issue is that these new advertising models are fairly new, and so measurement of success or failure is crucial, and as of now imprecise.

And here is where the need for real time customer feedback comes in. The entire principle behind what we are doing at iPerceptions is about continuously listening to real customers in the context of real experiences. We are re-defining market research…we are democratizing the voice of the customer. The very same technology which allows consumers to pick and choose the content they want, when they want it, and how they want to view it – can allow for an interactive conversation between brand and consumer.

I believe…that we are a handful of years away from a time where public opinion, voice of the customer and satisfaction and experience metrics will be captured (through different mediums) and analyzed in real time. Giving advertisers, marketers and decision makers alike the ability to consistently tap into the voice of the customer as a means of understanding and decision support.

Websites not living up to visitor’s expectations

Despite increased attention by many companies to their digital presence, a wide-ranging study has found that website development is not keeping pace with consumer expectations.

The Web Marketing Association had 300 industry experts examine over 2,400 websites, judging each on criteria ranging from design to copywriting to ease of use. As a whole, the resulting web development index declined 3 percent in 2006 from 2005.

"Judges' expectations and consumer expectations are outclimbing what web development has been doing," said Bill Rice, president of the group, which gives awards for the best websites.

One particular area of concern: innovation, which was rated lowest overall of the seven categories judged.

"Innovation is so hard to not only get but to keep," Rice said. "As soon as you have an innovation, everyone copies you and you're run of the mill again."

Of the 97 industries examined, the airline industry was seen as the most advanced in web development, which Rice chalks up to the Internet becoming a critical part of its business early. Within the airline industry, American Airlines was cited for its WhyYouFly.com site, created by Interpublic Group's TM Interactive, which not only lets customers book travel but helps them decide where to go.

I have been a judge for the Web Marketing Association going on five years now and I can personally say that expectations grow from one year to the next. As a judge, I expect companies to leverage technology in order to make their sites more appealing and current as a means of differentiation and branding....but...not at the cost of impacting the visitor experience. Remember, that these studies are judged by 'industry experts' and not actual visitors in the context of a real experience. While people want to the see the best use of the latest technology, and label that as innovation, it needs to be used as a means of enhancing the visitor experience in a way that empowers customers and visitors to accomplish their purpose on your site.

To see the winners from 2006, click here.

A new Intuitive approach to web analytics

Web analytics consultant Avinash Kaushik announced today on his Occam's Razor blog that he's leaving his position as director of Web research & analytics at Intuit to strike out on his own as an independent consultant. His first gig is as an "analytics evangelist" for Google, working with Google's marketing team on internal analytics, and with the Google Analytics team to spread the analytics gospel to the masses.

Is this another sign of Web analytics going mainstream?

Will we see a shift from pure hardcore web metrics to a more blended perspective of both behavioural and attitudinal analytics?

Avinash is a friend of mine and iPerceptions - and we wish him the best of luck in his new endeavours.